Corporate Death Watch
June 20th, 2018 at 7:03:32 AM permalink | |
DRich Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 51 Posts: 4944 |
I disagree because in general the people that just hung out at malls (teenagers), didn't have much money to spend. Yes, they made the malls busier, but that did not always translate to large sales. The majority of the money spent has always been the 30yo to 50yo demographic. At my age a Life In Prison sentence is not much of a detrrent. |
June 20th, 2018 at 7:49:52 AM permalink | |
Fleastiff Member since: Oct 27, 2012 Threads: 62 Posts: 7831 | Mall Rats, teenage girls familiar with every store in the mall but generally lacking substantial amounts of money mainly supported the food courts, cosmetic vendors and cell phone vendors. When picked up by Mom's Taxi Service the parents might spend money but the teenagers really didn't seem to spending all that much. Tampa is a wealthy area of Florida even ybor city (Tampa's yuppie area) is for the wealthy. its all upscale restaurants, upscale bars, upscale caterers. The caterers that supply Lady Fingers for a Women's Afternoon Tea guarantee that all the fingers come from rich, white republicans. i'm not surprised that malls in that area do well despite the inroads of online shopping and shorter car-trips. There are websites that keep watch on dying and dead malls. Refocusing seems to be working. Very few data centers in geographically remote areas were popular with the yuppie programmers, but malls in more urban areas can still have good electricity, good schools, good tech savvy environments and enough space to cram servers and exclude the general business world that might be a threat to continuity of a server farm. Mexican malls do not require any particular ethnic population but that is the original concept: an entire day of a family outing. Age appropriate activities for everyone, music, beer gardens, performances, leisure activities ... all to encourage spending more time there. |
June 20th, 2018 at 10:31:05 AM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
I don't think the malls that are less than 20 years old are not hurting. It's mostly the 30-50 year old malls. Those outdoor malls that look like little downtowns (called "lifestyle centers") are in good shape. Although the first ones appeared in the late 1980s they grew from 30 in 2002 to 120 at the end of 2004. I know they were considering putting one on the farm less than a block away in 2004, but they finally opened up in October 2006 at a more distant location. |
June 20th, 2018 at 4:40:22 PM permalink | |
Fleastiff Member since: Oct 27, 2012 Threads: 62 Posts: 7831 | Yes, the Faux Downtown malls do well since they can control bus and auto traffic ban the homeless and force businesses to be open during certain hours even if the economy is somewhat weak. |
June 20th, 2018 at 5:07:15 PM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
As of four years ago there were over 400 of them. Town Square Las Vegas with over a million square feet, 6 anchor tenants, and over 120 stores overall might be the largest one in the country. |
June 20th, 2018 at 5:48:53 PM permalink | |
DRich Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 51 Posts: 4944 |
I had no idea it was one of the biggest. I probably go there three times a year for the restaurants. At my age a Life In Prison sentence is not much of a detrrent. |
June 20th, 2018 at 7:02:15 PM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
There are many malls with over 2 million square feet of gross leasible area. https://web.archive.org/web/20110623233811/http://nutmeg.easternct.edu/~pocock/MallsLarge.htm But "lifestyle centers" tend to be a lot smaller. So Vegas at 1.2 million square feet has to be one of the largest. |
June 21st, 2018 at 3:20:16 AM permalink | |
Fleastiff Member since: Oct 27, 2012 Threads: 62 Posts: 7831 | Its not really the gross leasable area that matters its the "Load Factor" and their utilization of space and the placement of tenants. You go to a small strip mall and every parking space is marked 'subcompact' and they are narrow and spaced too close together. You go to a "lifestyle center" and the parking spaces are wide, long and vehicles can easily be placed far apart from each other. The driving lane in the parking lot is quite wide and turns or passing a car is very easy. Everyone can open a car door without fear of dinging the car beside them. No one has to squeeze themselves or their purchases in any particular fashion to get into their cars. The sidewalks are often ultra wide. Just as some cities opt to have very wide sidewalks in their downtown shopping core, these Faux Downtown shopping centers have sidewalks with lots of tables that are fairly wide apart. You want to slurp your latte and read a paper out in the fresh air, you won't have five conversations intruding. Large numbers of people can stroll around and saunter to their hearts content; there is no mad crowded rush of pedestrians. This is similar to a commercial building wherein the leasable area is compared to the common areas such as atria, elevators, janitorial closets, restrooms, etc. to yield a "load factor" of how much common space is being carried by the leasable areas that actually bring in the income. Successful malls tend to have load factors that are compatible with a leisure-oriented lifestyle of no hassles in parking, strolling or finding stores. Directories and signage are easy to understand. Major anchors are far apart and the intervening areas are not only inviting but filled with interesting specialty shops. Even if some destination store is quite a distance away from a shopper, the trip there will be filled with seats, diversions, attractions and relaxation. When asked how far apart two major stores are located, an engineer or architect might give a certain number of meters but a shopper will reply that they are "two lattes" apart and will focus on the fascinating specialty shop windows, the chocolatier and the pastry shop that line the walkway. |
June 21st, 2018 at 12:01:45 PM permalink | |
Mosca Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 22 Posts: 730 | The King of Prussia mall, outside of Philadelphia, is thriving. Honestly, it should. That place rocks. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/08/whats_the_secret_king_of_pruss.html |
June 21st, 2018 at 1:38:33 PM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
But you are talking about the largest mall in the country. I don't think that the big malls are in any trouble as they are destination centers. It's the small enclosed malls in the 200K-600K square feet size They are bigger and no longer offer anything that you can't get in a community level outdoor shopping center with a Walmart or Target. I think people think they are a pain to pop in and out of and they are more expensive. |